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    ntp only connecting to some time servers

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • N
      nback @stephenw10
      last edited by

      @stephenw10
      The lan box is using the pfsense firewall as its DNS server.
      https://www.petenetlive.com/KB/Article/0001154 indicates that plusnet is a pool with the IP's displayed in the ntp status image above. I don't know about ntp.virginmedia.com.
      I'll try turning on some ntp logs.

      N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • N
        nback @JKnott
        last edited by

        @JKnott
        I used to just have pool.ntp.org as the ntp server. This stopped working some time ago. I only noticed after the pfsense time drifted by some hours. Resetting the time manually did not help, it just drifted again. Looking at the NTP status monitoring graph it appears the ntp stopping working around about 2019-11-05. In an attempt to diagnose the problem I added the lan box the the ntp server list. I my surprise it worked, so I added some more external ones, ending up with the list show above. Examining the backups of the pfsense xml config files, I could find nothing that changed around the time (2019-11-05) ntp stopped working.

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        • N
          nback @nback
          last edited by

          @nback
          Here is the ntp log after turning on logging. Hopefully I've obscured all sensitive IP addresses.
          ntp.log.txt
          This pfsense is dual wan, single lan in fail over mode.

          N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • N
            nback @nback
            last edited by

            @nback
            Both WAN1 and WAN2 are with plusnet.

            N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • N
              nback @nback
              last edited by

              @nback
              OK. I've tried pinging the ntp servers from the box on lan and ssh'ed into the pfsense shell.
              ping-ntp-servers-from-box-on-lan-shell.txt
              ping-ntp-servers-from-pfsense-shell.txt
              From this it looks like the dns in pfsense is working OK but routing from 127.0.0.1 is failing for the unreachable ntp servers.
              I've look and my pfsense config and logs but can not find the cause.
              Any suggestions welcome.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                Do you have complete outbound NAT rules from 127.0.0.1?
                Any outbound block rules on the floating tab?

                The TTL error looks more like a routing problem though, it's looping somewhere. Do you have a port forward for NTP traffic?

                Steve

                N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • N
                  nback @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10
                  The only nat-outbound are auto but I don't understand what the ISAKMP rules are for.
                  nat-outbound.png
                  The floating tab is empty.
                  No port forward for NTP, grep <port>123 on the latest backup returns nothing.
                  I agree it feels like a routing problem but I don't understand why ntp.plus.net works or why all other external servers fail.

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    The ISAKMP rules are for clients behind pfSense using IPSec. Some servers require a fixed source port (usually also 500) so that rule does not change the source port for port 500 connections.

                    Let's see your routing table. Though if it's looping there I'd expect something very obviously wrong. And also other traffic to fail.

                    Steve

                    N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • N
                      nback @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10
                      ipv4 and ipv6 routing tables. Hopefully I've obscured all sensitive IP addresses
                      netstat-ipv4.txt
                      netstat-ipv6.txt

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Nothing glaringly obvious there. Either it is looping or it's sending with a stupidly low TTL value.

                        Try a traceroute to one of those failing IPs from pfSense, you would see a loop there.

                        Check the state table or a packet capture, is it actually sending from one of the WANs?

                        On a side note you're lucky to have different gateways with two PPP connections to the same ISP. I use plusnet and have not been so lucky. 😉

                        Steve

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                        • N
                          nback @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10

                          On pfsense

                          traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 85.199.214.102
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 212.71.248.69
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 138.68.183.179
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 212.71.248.69
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 178.62.250.107
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 217.114.59.66
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 138.68.183.179
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 212.71.248.69
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 178.62.250.107
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 217.114.59.66
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 138.68.183.179
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 212.71.248.69
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 178.62.250.107
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 217.114.59.66
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 138.68.183.179
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 212.71.248.69
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 178.62.250.107
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 217.114.59.66
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 138.68.183.179
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 212.71.248.69
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.
                          [2.4.0-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local1]/root: traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 178.62.250.107
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.

                          I cleared the state table and tried again
                          traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute: Warning: 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org has multiple addresses; using 134.0.16.1
                          traceroute: findsaddr: failed to connect to peer for src addr selection.

                          IP 134.0.16.1 does not appear in the state table. So I guess it's not sending.

                          From box on lan

                          traceroute to 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org (129.250.35.250), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
                          1 253.core.plus.net (195.166.130.253) 7.825 ms 7.805 ms 7.842 ms
                          2 84.93.253.107 (84.93.253.107) 8.455 ms 84.93.253.111 (84.93.253.111) 8.797 ms 8.741 ms
                          3 195.99.125.142 (195.99.125.142) 9.191 ms core1-BE1.southbank.ukcore.bt.net (195.99.125.130) 9.185 ms 195.99.125.138 (195.99.125.138) 8.722 ms
                          4 109.159.252.140 (109.159.252.140) 9.222 ms core4-hu0-8-0-0.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (195.99.127.52) 9.415 ms 9.953 ms
                          5 62.6.201.145 (62.6.201.145) 9.901 ms 9.440 ms 9.385 ms
                          6 166-49-209-194.eu.bt.net (166.49.209.194) 9.877 ms 8.754 ms 8.736 ms
                          7 * ae-1.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.148) 9.805 ms 9.530 ms
                          8 x.ns.gin.ntt.net (129.250.35.250) 8.553 ms !X 8.787 ms !X ae-1.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.148) 9.777 ms
                          traceroute 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org
                          traceroute to 0.gentoo.pool.ntp.org (85.199.214.102), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
                          1 253.core.plus.net (195.166.130.253) 7.847 ms 7.366 ms 7.360 ms
                          2 84.93.253.107 (84.93.253.107) 8.630 ms 84.93.253.111 (84.93.253.111) 8.301 ms 84.93.253.107 (84.93.253.107) 9.054 ms
                          3 195.99.125.142 (195.99.125.142) 8.607 ms core1-BE1.southbank.ukcore.bt.net (195.99.125.130) 9.040 ms 195.99.125.142 (195.99.125.142) 9.081 ms
                          4 peer7-et-3-1-6.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.252.234) 9.279 ms peer7-et-3-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.252.236) 9.119 ms peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net (194.72.16.142) 9.983 ms
                          5 * * *
                          6 edge2.lon.uk.as61337.net (91.230.243.221) 9.282 ms 7.909 ms 7.897 ms
                          7 core1.blet.uk.as61337.net (91.230.243.226) 10.365 ms 9.857 ms 9.921 ms
                          8 core1.np.uk.as61337.net (91.230.243.42) 10.382 ms 10.434 ms 10.375 ms
                          9 * * *
                          10 * * *
                          11 * * *
                          12 * * *
                          13 * * *
                          14 * * *
                          15 * * *
                          16 * * *
                          17 * * *
                          18 * * *
                          19 * * *
                          20 * * *
                          21 * * *
                          22 * * *
                          23 * * *
                          24 * * *
                          25 * * *
                          26 * * *
                          27 * * *
                          28 * * *
                          29 * * *
                          30 * * *

                          I hadn't noticed the different gateways. I think they change on occasionally.

                          Norman

                          N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • N
                            nback @nback
                            last edited by

                            @nback said in ntp only connecting to some time servers:
                            If I clear the state table and ping 134.0.16.1 from pfsense I see:
                            states-icmp-pfsense.png Nothing passed to WAN (or any other interface!)

                            If I do the same from the box on the lan I see:
                            states-icmp-box-on-lan-2.png

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Hmm, what interfaces do you have set for ntp? Try just unselecting any interfaces so it uses all interfaces.

                              Steve

                              N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • N
                                nback @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10
                                Was WAN,WAN2 and LAN. Originally just WAN amd WAN2 before I added the box on lan.
                                Unselecting all interface made no difference to the issue. Just seeing all interfaces listened to in the NTP log. Nothing additional in the NTP status.

                                N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • N
                                  nback @nback
                                  last edited by

                                  @nback
                                  I meant to add that I then tried a reboot of pfsense but no change.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    Hmm, why is it using localhost as source there....

                                    Did you actually choose localhost to ping from? It should still work but does it work if you choose WAN as source?

                                    Steve

                                    N 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • N
                                      nback @stephenw10
                                      last edited by nback

                                      This post is deleted!
                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • N
                                        nback @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        ping-from wan-2.png
                                        ping-from-wan2-2.png

                                        However from LAN or default does not work.
                                        ping-from-lan.png
                                        ping-from-default.png

                                        N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • N
                                          nback @nback
                                          last edited by

                                          @nback
                                          Maybe this is a clue. All of the dns servers setup in pfsense ping OK using default source address in the Diagnosics Ping web interface.
                                          127.0.0.1
                                          74.82.42.42
                                          208.67.220.220
                                          2001:470:20::2
                                          2620:0:ccc::2
                                          8.8.8.8
                                          8.8.4.4
                                          2001:4860:4860::8888
                                          2001:4860:4860::8844
                                          2620:0:ccd::2
                                          208.67.222.222
                                          212.159.6.9
                                          212.159.6.10

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • stephenw10S
                                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                            last edited by stephenw10

                                            Ok, just reviewed everything here and this is the problem, I should have spotted it the first time:

                                            Routing tables
                                            
                                            Internet:
                                            Destination        Gateway            Flags       Use    Mtu      Netif Expire
                                            default            yyy-yyy-yyy-yyy.plus.com UGS  2425824   1492        lo0
                                            dns.google         253.core.plus.net  UGHS     171106   1492     pppoe1
                                            dns.google         252.core.plus.net  UGHS     171108   1492     pppoe0
                                            

                                            Your default route is via lo0.

                                            There are gateways for each of the PPPoE connections but there is an additional gateway there, whatever yyy-yyy-yyy-yyy.plus.com is. That is not expected. The default route should be one of the other two gateways shown there.

                                            You don't appear to have any static routes via internal gateways so make sure you don't have any gateways defined on internal interface, such as LAN. The outbound NAT rules apply you have 5 interfaces with gateways set

                                            Do you have an extra gateway shown in System > Routing? Something left over from the previous config perhaps?

                                            What is the default v4 gateway set to there? Set it to one of the ppp gateways or a failover group of the two if it's still set to automatic.

                                            Steve

                                            N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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